Bottle Cap Lure Company goes from Dragon’s Den to Sioux Lookout shelves
Jesse Bonello - Staff Writer
The Original Bottle Cap Lure Company, who appeared on season 13 of CBC's Dragons' Den, has brought their products to Sioux Lookout shelves.
The company, which originated in Calgary, Alberta, has been located out of Ignace since Jan. 2018, and their original beer cap fishing lures are now available at 5 Mile Corner and DJ’s Gas Bar in Sioux Lookout.
Their beer cap fishing lures feature countless famous beer brands, but the company is looking to focus on customizing the beer cap lures for businesses to brand their company and to help organizations promote using the lures.
“I originally started it by fluke. I own my own fishing and tackle shop out in Calgary, Alberta, and I had a beer company sponsor me a pallet of beer in exchange for some pack rods that we had. I had a habit of bending my bottle caps in half, kind of like a fortune cookie. I fired one up onto my desk and it landed next to a treble hook, and I thought that could catch a fish,” said Norm Price, Inventor and Founder of the Bottle Cap Lure Company.
“Now, we’re phasing out of doing the beer caps brands. Once we have all of the inventory that we actually produced sold we’re strictly going with custom lures, so lodges, resorts, schools, non-profit groups. Anybody that actually wants to promote their business or organization, we’re encouraging them to use an environmentally friendly fishing lure because we can now custom print them with no liners in them, and they truly catch fish… Anything that’ll strike on a minnow or a shiner will strike on my lures,” said Price.
Their website reads, “Norm began the company in Calgary, AB and launched a recycling program to collect bottle caps from bars, pubs, and restaurants. In 2017, Norm Price met Lloyd Halback and the company was rebranded and relocated to Lloyd’s print shop in Regina, SK. The company now offers unique custom printed lures with promotional packaging, as well as custom printed bottle poppers.”
Price said Sioux Lookout is known for its prime fishing, which is why he wanted to test the local market.
“I love the people and I love the fact that the fishing around here is just phenomenal. There’s really good fishing, good lakes, and I wanted to test the market,” he said.
Price wanted to assure people that his products aren’t just a novelty item. During the production process the bottle cap lures are sprayed with a clear UV solution to help attract fish. Price said the products have been used successfully to catch fish at a professional level.
“A friend of mine, he passed away, he won three consecutive Canadian Sport Fishing Championships using these. A lot of people think they’re a novelty product until they test the waters with them… They’re a true functional fishing lure,” he said.
“They rattle as well as you can actually open them up and put a bait attractant inside them and squeeze them closed,” he added.
For more information, and to see all the available products, go to www.bottlecaplure.ca.